Freedom Finances: contentment

A cold chill crept through Timothy as he read the letter. He’d expected encouragement and direction but this…..

“But if it's only money these leaders are after, they'll self-destruct in no time[1],” Paul had written.

Timothy understood that he couldn’t allow worship of money, but did Paul expect him to alienate these leaders? They came, put money in the offering plate, helped finance the ministries, helped pay his salary.

What did Paul want him to say?

“If we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's enough,[2]” Paul wrote.

That’s enough? What about the TV and microwave? Those are basics, right? And then the second car and the health club membership and the pizza when I’m too tired to cook.

And then the kids need Ipods and cell phones.

How could bread and shoes be enough?

Don’t let legalism creep in here. Paul wasn’t attacking 20^th century way of life, but he did attack discontentment.

As we study financial freedom, this is the foundation. Can we be content with less? Can we resist the manipulation of advertising?

When discontentment wafts into our lives, do we shop or pray?

Your priorities show up in your checkbook – or credit card bill, in our culture.

The path to financial freedom starts with contentment. Jesus promised to provide for our daily bread. And Paul says if we have bread and shoes, we’re good to go.

“Lust for money brings trouble,[3]” Paul advised Timothy, who was trying to stay afloat among the wealth of Ephesus.

Trouble today is spelled D-E-B-T.

“But you…: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life— a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith.”

1 Tim 6:11-12

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[1] 1 Tim 6:9

[2] 1 Tim 6:8

[3] 1 Tim 6:10

When we rule....

God loved the birds and invented trees.

Man loved the birds and invented cages.

-Jacques Deval

On Writing: ya' think?

She was brilliant and she knew it, drinking trendy coffee and discussing authors with foreign names. She finally focused on me and gave me the oddest compliment I’ve ever received: “You look like some one who….thinks.”

I think it was a compliment.

But whether or not I look like someone who thinks, you need to think if you want to write. If you long to paint pictures with sentences, you have to first have an idea to convey and a purpose to your writing.

I know that you want to smother your text with colorful adjectives and skillful word choices but first you have to have a point to all this. I have read paragraphs of lush description, applying layers of color and texture to a scene. I could smell the roses and taste the hint of lemon in the air, but I had no idea why I was there.

Description fleshes out the purpose of the writing but description can’t be the purpose.

You as the writer need to be clear on your point. Some call it the “take away” or the theme of the article or book. Call it what you what, but know what it is.

Can you, in one sentence, describe what you want your reader to gain from your writing? If you can’t, you need to do some thinking before you do some typing.

Look at Luke, who in the first paragraph of his gospel disclosed his point: “It seemed good also to me to write an orderly account …so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”[1]

And John framed his entire gospel around his “take away”: “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”[2]

Last week we talked about knowing the reason you write. Today, I’m asking you to know the reason you are writing each piece.

Next Tuesday: The Michelangelo approach

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[1] Luke 1:3-4

[2] John 20:31

Galatians 1

Ack! How is this new teaching better than what I taught you? That may have been Paul’s thoughts as he wrote his letter to the Galatians.

Last week, I introduced the book of Galatians and asked you to read the first chapter. Paul, who had just returned from his first church-planting swing through the area of Galatia (eastern Turkey), quickly learned that new teachers had followed in his steps. They were revising his message, telling the new believers that they needed Jesus plus some Jewish practices such as circumcision.

Paul was like a mama bear protecting the new followers. And some of his questions in the first chapter of Galatians go right to the point: What was the authority of these new teachers?

They had none, of course. They were changing the gospel of Christ. Paul was horrified that the new believers were buying it. Didn’t they look at these teachers’ authority?

Paul spent Gal 1 defending his own authority to teach, reminding the Galatians that he spoke not to please men but his authority came from Jesus. He spoke to please Jesus.

Re-read Galatians 1, reviewing Paul’s authority and the new teachers’ authority. Journal the answers to these questions and your responses to the chapter (and feel free to leave comments on them as well):

Why did Paul have authority to teach?

Do we know the authority of our teachers?

Do we speak with the authority of God’s word? Or do we speak to please others?

What do we base our faith on?

Freedom finance

“So do you think we could hock the 14-year-old?” Lisa laughed as she pulled her credit card bill out of the mail box. “He’s been a little obnoxious anyway. Two birds with one stone and all that, you know?”

She winked at me and then gave the envelope another look, sighing. “I really wish I could quit my job but this keeps me going. I’d like to be home for the kids but we have bills to pay.”

As far as Lisa knows, she’ll work the rest of her life to pay the interest on her credit card debt. Although she loves her husband, his love of stuff keeps their credit cards maxed out. She works to keep them afloat but neither of them expects to ever get out of debt.

“I’d like do some volunteer work,” she confided. “I’d like to go to Mexico for a week with that team at church. But I can’t think that way. So I don’t!”

Finances are decidedly not romantic, yet how we handle our money affects how we handle our lives. Handling finances in a godly way can lead us to a place of freedom.

And God has a lot to say about finances. On Thursdays for a few weeks, we’re going to look at some of his advice regarding how to handle money. Jesus promised freedom. Does that include our finances? We’re going to dig into the Bible, to see how a follower of Jesus should handle money.

Next Thursday: Paul and Timothy talk money

On the road

I am going to Nashville, Tennessee tomorrow for a couple of days of meetings. I hope to be able to post on Thursday. The plan for now: Mondays, Bible study on Galatians; Tuesday, writing reflections; Thursday, God's plan for finances. Please keep me in prayer as I travel.

Courage

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.

JRR Tolkien